Home >> United States & Canada >> Immigration  Email  Print Immigration: the missing link in developing puzzle Navraj Goyal - 7/10/2006 No single issue has the potential of bringing the world together than immigration, yet it is this issue that is turning out to be the most divisive. It has left the public opinion bitterly acrimonious and divided everywhere whether it is a country of origin or destination. As the US Senate debates the fate of millions of existing and potential immigrants in the country, the battle lines are sharply drawn between the pro- and anti-immigration camp. In France, the issue is proving to be so explosive that riots broke out. In Holland, the expulsion of liberal Somali-born intellectual Ayan Hirsi Ali led to tremendous hue and cry.
The situation is no different in countries which the workers are fleeing in search of jobs. There the opponents of immigration see it as a brain-drain. They argue that due to immigration a country ends up losing its most productive workforce as most of these are highly-skilled. The situation becomes acute in some of the African and Caribbean countries where 60 to 80 per cent of the highly skilled workers live abroad. In case of Guyana, for instance, 83 per cent of the highly educated workers live in the OCED countries. In addition, resources that governments of these countries spent on education and training of these workers acts as net loss to the country.
One of the stark examples is the nursing and health care sector. For long, the west has suffered from shortage of skilled medical and para-medical workers. About one-fourth of the doctors in the USA are of Indian origin. In case of nurses the statistics for immigrant workers are even higher. Such is the demand that in countries like the Philippines even doctors train to become a nurse so that they can gain easy entry in the USA. Meanwhile in the poor countries in Africa and elsewhere, this makes the existing gaps in provisioning of health-care services even wider. In Ethiopia, for instance, there are 21 nurses per 100,000 population compared to 900 nurses per 100,000 Americans.
This, however, is just one aspect of the story. Over the years, remittances sent home by immigrant workers have increased manifold. In 2005, the figure stood at $ 232 billion, of this $ 167 billion came to developing countries far exceeding all type of foreign aid put together. India with its share at about 10 per cent of the global remittances has been the biggest recipient. Today, the money sent home by Indian workers abroad almost equals the value of our exports. Clearly, it has become a crucial source of income and investment for the poor countries. For poor families in South Asia, Africa and elsewhere, remittances sent from abroad provide them with food, shelter, medicine, education and other facilities. A successful immigrant not only becomes a source for up-liftment for his immediate family but also for the local community as a whole.
Experience shows that migration operates on the pattern of local networks. An immigrant who gets established in a foreign soil becomes a channel for soft landing for other members of his family, relatives and local community. Consider the story of a small village Kera located in the arid Kutch region of western India. Since the early 60s when some its people set their foot on the western soil initially and set-up their businesses, they have taken with them increasing number of locals every year. Today, it is hard to find a house in Kera and surrounding villages whose members have not lived abroad at some point in their lives. There is a tradition here according to which young men from poor families are taken abroad by elders of the area. Initially, he is given a job at one of the establishments owned by a community member and his progress is kept under a close watch. Once the elders feel that the boy has gained enough expertise, they all get together and contribute seed money to set-up an independent business for him. Today, Kera village alone has bank reserves of over $ 45 million.
In west, the competitiveness of their economies suffer from a labour dis-advantage in a global world. They have already lost a big portion of their low-end manufacturer and services sector to countries like China and India. Europe with its aging population finds it to tough to keep pace in economic growth and maintain its social security system. Labour market regidities in the form of domestic laws and immigration barriers have created a short-supply situation which adversely affects the productive activities. The high wages push up the cost of production and makes it uneconomic when faced with competition from cheap foreign goods and services.
Today, we live in a world divided into areas having workers but no jobs and areas with jobs but no workers. This is the crux of development puzzle. Clearly, immigration is the missing link in this jigsaw. Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 59/241 and 60/227, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has brought forward 'International migration and development' report. Hopefully, this report followed by the High-level Dialogue on International Migration and Development later this year would lead to a recognition of this fact and mark a new beginning. For long, migration has been considered as an unilateral issue, it is time to realise its multilateral nature. Or else, development will continue to be a puzzle.
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